FREE WHITEWATER

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.4.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Thursday in town will be partly cloudy with a high of eighty-two. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:29, for 15h 11m 41s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 96.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

Whitewater’s Landmarks Commission meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1989, the Chinese government orders troops to storm Tiananmen Square. The New York Times reported about massacre the next day:

BEIJING, Monday, June 5 — Army units tightened their hold on the center of the Chinese capital on Sunday, moving in large convoys on some of the main thoroughfares and firing indiscriminately at crowds as outraged citizens continued to attack and burn army vehicles.

It was clear that at least 300 people had been killed since the troops first opened fire shortly after midnight on Sunday morning but the toll may be much higher. Word-of-mouth estimates continued to soar, some reaching far into the thousands. Outbreaks of firing continued today, as more convoys of troops moved through the city.

The bloodshed stunned Beijing and seemed to traumatize its citizens. Normal life halted as armored personnel carriers and troop trucks rumbled along debris-filled roads, with soldiers firing their automatic weapons in every direction. Smoke filled the sky as workers and students vented frustration and outrage by burning army vehicles wherever they found them separated from major convoys,in side streets or at intersections.

Then and now, China’s principal political condition has been dictatorship.

On this day in 1837, a territorial cornerstone ceremony takes place:

On this date Ebenezer and Roseline Peck hosted the Capitol cornerstone-laying celebration at their log public house in Madison. Peck Cabin, Madison’s first residence, business and post office, was demolished in 1857. [Source: History Just Ahead: A Guide to Wisconsin’s Historical Markers. Edited by Sarah Davis McBride, p. 89.]

Here’s the Thursday game from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — June 1-5
Six-Packs
We’ve got a splinter group of trivia every day this week. For each day, we’ll give you a category and a list of all the members of that category with six letters in their names—except one.
Example:
Current Supreme Court justices: Breyer, Thomas
Answer:
Scalia
What to Submit:
Submit the missing category member (as “Scalia” in the example) for your answer.
Thursday, June 4
Best Picture Oscar winners: Ben-Hur, Gandhi, Hamlet, Oliver!

Technology

Miniature Origami Robot Self-folds, Walks, Swims, Etc.

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At ICRA 2015 in Seattle yesterday [that is, 5.27.15], researchers from MIT demonstrated an untethered miniature origami robot that self-folds, walks, swims, and degrades. That’s the title of their paper, in fact, and they delivered on all of those promises: from a flat sheet with a magnet on it, their robot folds itself up in just a few seconds, is immediately ready to zip around on land or water driven by magnetic fields, and then when you’ve run out of things to do with it, drive it into a tank of acetone and it’ll dissolve. This is the first time that a robot has been able to demonstrate a complete life cycle like this….

See, Origami Robot Folds Itself Up, Does Cool Stuff, Dissolves Into Nothing @  IEEE Spectrum.  

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.3.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Wednesday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of seventy-seven. Sunrise is 5:17 and sunset 8:28, for 15h 10m 35s of daytime. It’s a full moon today.

Whitewater’s Common Council and Community Development Authority will hold a joint meeting tonight at 6 PM.

On this day in 1965, the first American spacewalk takes place as Edward White leaves his Gemini capsule. The New York Times reported the event the next day:

Cape Kennedy, Friday, June 4–For 20 minutes yesterday afternoon Maj. Edward H. White 2d of the Air Force was a human satellite of the earth as he floated across North America from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Tethered to the Gemini 4 spacecraft, he chatted good-humoredly and snapped pictures as he darted about in raw space with a the aid of a gas-firing jet gun. Asked how he was doing by Maj. James A. McDivitt of the Air Force, the spaceship commander, Major White replied to his partner in the capsule:

“I’m doing great. This is fun.”

When he was told to re-enter the capsule, Major White laughed and said: “I’m not coming in.” But later, after more banter, he followed through on orders to return.

Here’s the midweek puzzle from Puzzability:

This Week’s Game — June 1-5
Six-Packs
We’ve got a splinter group of trivia every day this week. For each day, we’ll give you a category and a list of all the members of that category with six letters in their names—except one.
Example:
Current Supreme Court justices: Breyer, Thomas
Answer:
Scalia
What to Submit:
Submit the missing category member (as “Scalia” in the example) for your answer.
Wednesday, June 3
Current major-league baseball teams: Angels, Astros, Giants, Padres, Red Sox, Royals, Tigers

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.2.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Tuesday in town will bring sunny skies and a high of seventy-two. Sunrise is 5:18 and sunset 8:27, for 15h 09m 27s of daytime. We’ve a full moon today.

Common Council meets tonight at 6:30 PM.

It’s been years in the construction of One World Trade Center.

Here’s a time-lapse of that construction:

On this day in 1981, the video arcade game Donkey Kong makes its debut in America.

Puzzability‘s Six-Packs series continues with Tuesday’s game:

This Week’s Game — June 1-5
Six-Packs
We’ve got a splinter group of trivia every day this week. For each day, we’ll give you a category and a list of all the members of that category with six letters in their names—except one.
Example:
Current Supreme Court justices: Breyer, Thomas
Answer:
Scalia
What to Submit:
Submit the missing category member (as “Scalia” in the example) for your answer.
Tuesday, June 2
U.S. states: Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon

Animals, Cats, Nature

Why Cats Seemingly Play with Their Prey

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Every so often, someone will ask why cats seem to toy with their food.  Why not, after all, simply pounce for a quick kill? Applied animal behaviorist Dr. Karen London supplies an answer:

….A study done decades ago investigated the playful behavior that cats often exhibit with their prey. The scientist Maxeen Biben presented cats with different sizes of prey. The small prey were mice and the large prey were rats. Some cats were hungry, others were very hungry, and some cats had recently eaten. Biben found that when cats were given a rat, they were more likely to play with it if they were very hungry than if they had just eaten or were only a little hungry. She suggested that cats have to be very hungry to attempt to kill large prey such as a rat, and that they must perform these playful behaviors in order to be able to make the kill safely….

The cat kills the way it does, in an ostensibly slow and hesitant way, simply because it’s the method most advantageous for the cat.

From the rat’s point of view, if there were one, the cat’s method would seem awkward, and in moments in which the rodent managed a bit of distance, almost ineffectual. And yet, those moments of apparent escape are temporary only, and part of a larger and useful feline strategy.

Cats don’t toy with their prey from malice; they behave the way they do because it’s an effective method. They take a while because it’s worthwhile to do so.

That’s why cats seemingly play with their prey.

City, Local Government, WGTB, WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN

Trane Presents an Energy-Savings Contract

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WGTB logo PNG 112x89 Post 10 in a series.

Trane Presents an Energy-Savings Contract from John Adams on Vimeo.

Recap: On 11.5.13, city officials in Whitewater met privately with three construction or engineering vendors (Trane, Black & Veatch, Donohue) and at least one major waste-hauler to discuss importing waste from other cities into Whitewater for a digester energy project. On 12.3.13, Whitewater’s Wastewater Superintendent Reel and City Manager Clapper presented a brief slideshow about the project, and revealed the prior meeting. On 1.21.14, Trane and Black & Veatch presented to Whitewater’s Common Council on the project. On 2.4.14, the City of Whitewater, at the enthusiastic recommendation of Reel and Clapper, agreed to fund Trane’s ‘study’ on the feasibility of the project, in an amount up to $150,000.

(We’ve also skipped ahead in the story, to a presentation from Clapper and Reel from 3.16.15 at the Whitewater School Board, to see how they’ve crafted a sales presentation – one of several – to major institutions and groups in the city. Later, we’ll be able to examine how their more recent presentation claims match their prior statements, prior engineering statements, and independent analyses of digester projects like this.)

(Every question in this series has a unique number, assigned chronologically based on when it was asked.  All the questions from When Green Turns Brown can be found in the Question Bin.  Today’s questions begin with No. 108.)

For today, this post looks at Trane’s presentation – from some of the same representatives who spoke to Council about the digester project – on a separate, supposed energy-savings project for Whitewater. It’s useful as a look at Trane’s work, but just as much into the thinking and diligence of Whitewater’s municipal administration.

108. Whitewater selected Trane for this energy-efficiency project (here, making several Whitewater municipal buildings supposedly more energy-efficient, for example). Who else applied? Why Trane? (Ten years earlier Whitewater used Honeywell.)

109. Like Trane’s work on the digester, this energy-efficiency project would be under a single-vendor performance-contract (rather than a separate designer and contractor approach sent to bid that would be common for most construction projects). Why choose this method over a traditional one?

110. Trane claims there would be $2,219,055 in savings to the city over fifteen years. How much have we, now in 2015, saved based on this estimate?

111. Obvious question: if we’ve not saved a fractional amount equal consistent with Trane’s calculations, then why is that? (It’s an obvious question, but the answer’s not been published anywhere, to my knowledge.)

112. The total project cost is about $1,900,000. Even after a ninety-day review from Trane, Trane’s final numbers are not available at this meeting. Why, then, present tonight? That is, why the urgency?

113. These are projects for the municipal building, library, armory, Cravath, Starin Park, and city garage. How critical are any of them?

114.  Both Trane and city officials contend that these projects are urgent because of the weather.  Are they really?

115.  A city leader contends that inadequate air conditioning for the city administration in the municipal building is an urgent matter.   Is it?  How many workers in Whitewater have no air conditioning at any time?  How many residents in Whitewater have no air conditioning at any time?

116.  At about 34:00 into the clip of the meeting, several city officials or Council members laugh at the idea of not have improved air conditioning at the municipal building.  Does it seem equally absurd to them that many ordinary residents live and work without air conditioning?

117.  Trane contends that the entire project could be executed in 2014.  Was it?

118.  City Manager Clapper does not state the amount in the city capital budget that could be used for the scope of project cost, but Rachel of Trane knows it from memory.  Why does the vendor know the municipal budget figure but the city’s own manager does not?

Original Common Council Discussion, 2.20.14
Agenda: http://www.whitewater-wi.gov/images/stories/agendas/common_council/2014/2-20-2014_Full_Packet_C.pdf
Minutes: Unpublished.
Video: https://vimeo.com/87518039

WHEN GREEN TURNS BROWN: Mondays @ 10 AM, here on FREE WHITEWATER.

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.1.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Monday in town will be sunny with a high of sixty-six. Sunrise is 5:18 and sunset 8:26, for 15h 08m 15s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 98.4% of its visible disk illuminated.

For Friday’s FW poll, on whether Golden State or Cleveland would win the NBA championship, most respondents (56%) picked Golden State.  We’ll know soon enough; the final begin Thursday.

On this day in 1779, a court martial (about charges before later treason) of Benedict Arnold begins (only to conclude months after beginning):

The court martial to consider the charges against Arnold began meeting on June 1, 1779, but was delayed until December 1779 by General Clinton’s capture of Stony Point, New York, throwing the army into a flurry of activity to react.[67] A number of members of the panel of judges were ill-disposed to Arnold over actions and disputes earlier in the war, yet Arnold was cleared of all but two minor charges on January 26, 1780.[68] Arnold worked over the next few months to publicize this fact; however, in early April, just one week after Washington congratulated Arnold on the March 19 birth of his son, Edward Shippen Arnold, Washington published a formal rebuke of Arnold’s behavior.[69]

The Commander-in-Chief would have been much happier in an occasion of bestowing commendations on an officer who had rendered such distinguished services to his country as Major General Arnold; but in the present case, a sense of duty and a regard to candor oblige him to declare that he considers his conduct [in the convicted actions] as imprudent and improper.

— Notice published by George Washington, April 6, 1780[70]

Puzzability begins a new weekly series entitled, Six Packs:

This Week’s Game — June 1-5
Six-Packs
We’ve got a splinter group of trivia every day this week. For each day, we’ll give you a category and a list of all the members of that category with six letters in their names—except one.
Example:
Current Supreme Court justices: Breyer, Thomas
Answer:
Scalia
What to Submit:
Submit the missing category member (as “Scalia” in the example) for your answer.
Monday, June 1
Signs of the zodiac: Cancer, Pisces, Taurus

 

Business, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Economy, Free Markets, Gluttony, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park

Conservatives Against WEDC

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Only a generation ago (not long, really), most conservatives would have rejected something like the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s ineffectual, wasteful attempts to manipulate the economy for the benefit of a few insiders’ friends.

Today, communities across our state are beset with any number of unctuous men hawking a kind of big-government conservatism, with false promise after false promise about community development or job-creation. It’s junk economics, to be sure, but for every oily salesman there’s an obliging, oily toad among the press happy to flack these shams.

Fortunately, there many who see though this, including conservatives who have not descended into hucksterism. (I’m a libertarian, not a conservative, yet I well know that there are varieties of conservatives, and conservatives who have not abandoned the truth of economic uplift through markets free of state interference.)

Consider the men and women of Wisconsin’s MacIver Institute as a positive example:

According to an article in the May issue of State Legislatures Magazine, states offer billions of dollars in subsidies with little to show for it.

“Today, every state offers at least some sort of tax incentive for businesses,” according to the article by Jackson Brainerd, a research analyst for the National Council of State Legislatures. “Yet, despite lawmakers’ enthusiasm for corporation-specific incentives, many economists, experts and other observers, from the left to the right, doubt they are an efficient use of public money.”

Groups including the conservative Madison-based MacIver Institute question whether states should even be in the business of subsidizing business.

“We believe government does not have a role in this arena,” said Brett Healy, executive director of MacIver, which promotes a free-market approach. “Any time the government gets involved in this type of corporate welfare, picking winners and losers, all sorts of problems crop up.

“If we take a step back and be honest with ourselves, this is not a critical or core mission of state government,” Healy said.

Well-said.

Via What should Wisconsin do to boost business? @ State Journal.

 

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 5.31.15

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Good morning, Whitewater.

Sunday in town will be sunny and mild, with a high of sixty-three. Sunrise is 5:19 and sunset 8:26, for 15h 06m 59s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 94.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

 

On this day in 1859, the clock on Elizabeth Tower (the tower named as such in 2012) goes into operation:

The name Big Ben is often used to describe the tower, the clock and the bell but the name was first given to the Great Bell.

The Elizabeth Tower, which stands at the north end of the Houses of Parliament, was completed in 1859 and the Great Clock started on 31 May, with the Great Bell’s strikes heard for the first time on 11 July and the quarter bells first chimed on 7 September….

Until installation in 1859, the clock was kept at Dent’s factory. Denison made many refinements including inventing the ‘Double Three-legged Gravity Escapement’. This was a revolutionary mechanism, ensuring the clock’s accuracy by making sure its pendulum was unaffected by external factors, such as wind pressure on the clock’s hands.

Denison’s invention has since been used in clocks all over the world. It is also known as the ‘Grimthorpe Escapement’ as Denison was made Baron Grimthorpe in 1886.

The clock was installed in the Clock Tower in April 1859. At first, it wouldn’t work as the cast-iron minute hands were too heavy. Once they were replaced by lighter copper hands, it successfully began keeping time on 31 May 1859. It was not long before the chimes of the Great Bell, also known as Big Ben, joined in.

On this day in 1899, the Gideons are founded in Beaver Dam:

On this night two salesmen, John H. Nicholson and Samuel E. Hill, crossed paths a second time, in Beaver Dam. The pair had first met eight months before in the Central Hotel in Boscobel and discussed the need for some way to provide Christian support to traveling businessmen. During this second meeting in Beaver Dam the two decided to “get right at it. Start the ball rolling and follow it up.” They invited their professional contacts to an organizational meeting to be held in Janesville on July 1, 1899, at which the organization was formally named and chartered. By 1948, The Gideons had distributed over 15 million bibles world-wide. View more information about the Beginning of The Gideons International.